The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune stands for good luck and good fortune—or so we think, or at least hope. The wheel hurtles around while we hope against hope that, when it stops, it will point toward fortune: continuing fortune, never-ending good luck. Yet we know it could just as easily signal downfall, bad luck, or loss.

In time, as we gather more experience of the world, we begin to realize that it has to be this way. Each of us is ruled by our own personal wheel of fortune, and no one escapes the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. We struggle to comprehend the truth of it: what goes around comes around. What goes up must come down. And this too will pass.

But the Wheel of Fortune is also a metaphor for the spinning of the Earth. If the Earth were to stop spinning, all life would die and the planet would become a lifeless rock. It is the spinning of the wheel that sustains life. We cannot stop it. We must never want to stop it.

The only thing we can do—if we challenge ourselves—is to move toward the centre, where the ups and downs are less severe. The closer we get to that centre, the stiller everything becomes. The wheel continues to turn, but we turn with it less and less.

Slowly, the addictive pull—the thrill of the rollercoaster of highs and lows—begins to fade. In its place comes a quiet delight in watching the changing seasons, without feeling the need to experience every rise and fall ourselves.